'I said I'm good at it...' The first 50 home runs for foreigners are visible. 1st place in 5th home runs. Listed as MVP candidate. NC dug up another treasure.

Jul 14, 2024

A game between Doosan and NC at Jamsil Baseball Stadium on the 19th. NC Davidson hit a solo home run in the second inning. Jamsil = Song Jeong-heon Reporter's songs@sportschosun.com/2024.06.19/

A game between the Kiwoom Heroes and the NC Dinos at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 27th. NC Davidson is cheering after hitting a two-run shot with one out in the top of the fifth inning. Gocheok = Reporter Park Jae-man pjm@sportschosun.com /2024.06.27/

The game between NC and Hanwha at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on the 7th, and NC Davidson, with no outs and first base, hits a two-run home run in the top of the 7th inning and shares joy. Daejeon = Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2024.06.07/

Will we ever see the first 50 home runs as a foreign hitter.

The NC Dinos' foreign hitter Matt Davidson's home run hunt is unusual. He has already hit 28 home runs, ranking first alone in home runs.

Choi Jung of SSG Landers, who is tied for second place, and Kim Do-young of KIA Tigers (23) widened the gap by as many as five.

He was a batter who expected a long shot from the beginning. There are many accurate hitters such as Park Min-woo, Son Ah-seop, and Park Gun-woo, but NC, which did not have a batter to hit a big one, wanted a batter who could hit a home run. Last year, he picked Jason Martin, but he broke up with only 17 home runs.

Davison hit 26 home runs in the Major League in 2017 and hit 20 in 2018 to hit 20 home runs for the second consecutive year. Last year, he hit 19 home runs at the Hiroshima Toyokaf Stadium in Japan. The power was enormous, but the contact ability was poor, but NC signed a contract with him for a total of $1 million because it thought it would work in the KBO League.

It's more than I expected. As of the 13th, he has a batting average of 283, 85 hits, 28 home runs, and 68 RBIs. No matter how many home runs you hit, if the batting average is too low, it is not easy to be together, but the batting average is also observed.

If there's something I'm disappointed about, the batting average in scoring. With 220 (20 hits in 91 times at bat), the accuracy is poor in chances.

Still, he is hitting something bigger and bigger.

Davison, who had only five through April, hit eight home runs in May and hit 12 in June to become No. 1 in homers.

He is still showing good batting performance in July, hitting three home runs in six games.

Yamaiko Navarro. Sports Chosun DB

에릭 테임즈. Sports Chosun DB

Samsung-KT match held at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on the 29th. Rojas, the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the first inning, is welcomed after hitting a solo shot. Suwon = Reporter Jeong Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2024.6.29/

At the current pace, up to 46 are possible. The most home runs by foreign hitters in history were 48 recorded by Samsung Lions Navarro in 2015. NC Eric Thames hit 47 in 2015, ranking second. In 2020, KT Wiz Mel Rojas Jr. challenged the new record, but tied for second place with 47 points.

He has a good pace, so he seems to be able to aim for the first 50 home runs by a foreign player.

In the previous KBO league, 50 home runs are a rare treasure-like performance recorded by only three players. Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop hit 54 home runs for the first time in 1999 when he was a Samsung player, surpassing the 50-homer mark, and hit 56 home runs in 2003, which is still unbroken. Shim Jung-soo hit 53 in 2003 when he was in the modern era, becoming the second batter to exceed 50 home runs.

Samsung's Park Byung-ho hit 52 and 53 consecutive home runs in 2014 and 2015 when he was a Nexen Heroes player, setting a milestone of 50 home runs for the second consecutive year.

How many home runs can Davison's home run continue. If he exceeds 50 home runs, he will proudly be listed as a leading candidate for MVP with a new history.

indyk@sportschosun.com